Early last year, Swedish company Embracer Group, which has made a fair number of low profile acquisitions, bought Gearbox Studios. This year, the company is upping the ante by acquiring three storied studios from Square Enix, alongside the IPs that the studios own.
Kotaku reports that Embracer Group has signed “an agreement to acquire” the studios Crystal Dynamics, Eidos Montreal, and Square Enix Montreal from parent Square Enix. The deal that’s worth US$300 million (~RM1.3 billion) will be finalised later in the year.
When that happens, Embracer Group will not only own the three aforementioned studios, but also their IPs. This includes the likes of Tomb Raider, Deus Ex, Thief, and Legacy of Kain. Which is quite the deal compared to the price the company paid for Gearbox, which was over US$1.3 billion.
But why is Square Enix even selling these three studios? According to its press release, the company says that it wants to invest more in “fields including blockchain, AI, and the cloud”.
On one hand, it’s baffling that Square Enix would want to let go of IPs like Tomb Raider and Deus Ex to fund its blockchain endeavours. But on the other, hopefully this means Embracer Group can bring the Deus Ex series back to life, since Square Enix put it on ice following Mankind Divided.
(Source: Square Enix, Kotaku)
